Nicole and I babysat tonight for three kids, a little girl (3), a boy (5), and a bigger girl (8). I got to hang out more with the boy whose name was Liam. Before I get to my conversation with Liam, I must recount the harrowing event of the night. The little girl fell down the stairs as she was walking in front of Nicole, and she busted her nose, blood going all over. It was very scary, but she is okay now.
Anyway, in the aftermath of the bloody nose chaos, my job was to put Liam to bed. But he had been trying to build a city with his toys, and I hadn't gotten a chance to play with him with his toys, so we sat down to build a tower and a city. Apparently, as Nicole tells it, she came in twenty minutes later, past when he was supposed to be put to bed, and there we were in the floor, caught red-handed. Liam pointed at me and exclaimed, "He said we could!" Haha!
So we started putting the toys up and I began to tuck him in. He had his television on, and I went over to turn it off. Apparently he gets afraid at night, perhaps afraid of the dark, and he asked if he could keep his television on. I told him no, but I told him that I would tell him a story. It looked like he was about to tear up, and he started telling me about other times that he had been afraid.
I decided to tell him about how God would protect him, and that he should pray to God for strength and courage. And as a five year old, he definitely had questions. I started out by telling the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was fun. I would get dramatic and then quiet and ask him how he thought different characters would feel. For instance, how did Nebuchadnezzer feel when they didn't bow down to his statue? Mad! How mad? Enough to heat a furnace, not once, not twice, but seven times what it normally was in order to throw the three guys in. I told him before that the story would be a scary story because I wanted him to see God come through in a scary situation. He kept asking about when we got to the scary part. I told him the furnace would've scared me.
So they threw in the three, and the people outside starting counting. How many people did they see in the furnace? One, two, three? NO! There were four people in there? Who was the fourth? Who went in the furnace to protect them? Jesus!
I told him that even when he couldn't see Jesus that he could pray to him and that Jesus would be with him. Jesus is more powerful than even the most powerful fiery furnace. And we played a game. He would name things, and I would tell him that Jesus was greater. Especially all the superheroes he named.
But he had a question, a doubt. He said one time that he prayed to God to keep him from having bad dreams. But God didn't stop him from having bad dreams. He still had them that night. Well, sometimes God doesn't answer every prayer request exactly the way we want him to. And he doesn't always make things easy for us. Sometimes God puts us into situations to teach us to be brave or to teach us patience.
Also, along the line of the "Jesus is greater than" questioning, he got to a point where he said, "Greater than God?" And I got what might be the most awesome thing in the world: the opportunity to try to explain the Trinity to five year old who is actually interested. Well, Jesus is God. God is actually three persons. Jesus is God. The Father is God. The Holy Spirit is God. They love each other. But they are also all one God. Three in one. But how? And I gave an honest answer, "I don't know. But he is."
And then we prayed and I tucked him in, and I don't know if the ghosts in his room got him or what, but I hope some of those seeds come back to bear fruit. To my readers, never lose your childlike wonder at God, and never be afraid to ask even the tough questions. God is big enough to handle even your biggest questions, even if the answers are not neat and tidy to the way your heart already works.
What an awesome story!
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